


Good Night Kissing

by misura



Category: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22226722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Conrad talks Slivko into taking a break from working on the engine.
Relationships: James Conrad/Reg Slivko
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	Good Night Kissing

Night had fallen a while ago, but Slivko was still going at it: easy enough to understand, given the looming deadline, but ultimately counterproductive, Conrad knew. Tired people tended to make mistakes.

Exhausted people faced with creatures they never before imagined to exist, even more so.

"Slivko," he said.

"What?" Slivko looked up, wild-eyed and with only a hint of awareness that he even recognized Conrad.

Conrad waited.

Slivko blinked. "Look, man, I've almost got it, all right? Just give me a few more minutes."

"You can have them tomorrow," Conrad said. "After you've gotten some rest. You'll feel better. Sharper," he added, hoping that would sway Slivko. "You're not going to be doing anyone any good by falling over with exhaustion."

"I'm fine," Slivko mumbled, looking away. "I mean, I'm alive, aren't I?"

_Ah,_ Conrad thought. _Survivor's guilt. Always fun._ "Yes," he said. "You survived. For now."

Slivko scowled. "Thanks."

"I would very much like for you to stay that way. But in order to do that, I'm going to need some help. Specifically, I'm going to need you to get some sleep. Now."

"You sound like my mom," Slivko said.

Conrad decided not to bother wondering if Slivko had really been in some life-or-death situation involving his mother that even remotely resembled their current one. "Trust me. My feelings for you are anything but maternal."

A bit risky, perhaps, except that 'not maternal' still covered plenty of ground. If Slivko took it the wrong way - or the right way, rather, Conrad could easily claim a misunderstanding. _And if not - well._ These might not be ideal circumstances to start a lasting relationship, but there were worse ways to release tension than some casual sex.

Slivko gave him a look and for a moment, Conrad thought he'd gotten caught, but then Slivko turned away again and said, "Whatever, man."

_That's me, told off._ Conrad allowed himself a wry smile.

Slivko resumed working on the engine, pretending he'd even forgotten Conrad was there. Of all the things on this island, Conrad supposed that engine might well be the one thing that made the most sense to Slivko right now. It might have been cobbled together from all sorts of parts, most of which had never been intended to be put together, but that didn't change the fact that it was something Slivko _understood_. Something he could _fix_.

Conrad almost left him to it, but common sense won out. Slivko needed sleep. Keeping him safe tomorrow was going to be hard enough without Slivko being unable to keep his eyes open, or too tired to think straight - or shoot straight.

"Slivko," he said, putting a hand on Slivko's shoulder this time. "Come on." Slivko felt tense under his hand - less to do with the physical contact and more with their situation, Conrad judged.

"Do they even have beds here?" Slivko asked, an edge of hysteria to his voice.

_Did they have beds where you were before?_ "Something like that," Conrad said. "Close enough to get a good night's sleep, I promise."

"How do you know?" Slivko stopped working, though he was still holding the wrench.

"Trust me," Conrad said, and something in his tone must have given him away, because Slivko shrugged off his hand and stared at him like he'd never seen Conrad before. "Trust me," Conrad repeated, taking a deliberate step back and raising his hands to show he posed no threat, no danger.

Slivko put down the wrench and deliberately stepped into Conrad's personal space, like he was daring Conrad to do something, to say something.

Conrad didn't.

Slivko swallowed. "So what's going to happen if I trust you, huh?"

_You'll live. I hope._ "What do you want to happen?" Conrad asked.

"I want all of this to have been just a bad dream. I want to wake up and find out we're going home. All of us," Slivko said. "All those guys who - but we're not, are we?"

"No," Conrad said, his tone as gentle as he could make it. He imagined leaning forward just a bit, just enough to touch Slivko. He imagined the way Slivko would feel in his arms, the way Slivko's mouth would feel against his own. "I'm sorry."

"Hey. Not your fault." Slivko grinned all of a sudden. "And I guess if we'd gone home, we wouldn't even have met, so there's that, you know? It's not all bad. Well, I mean, most of it's bad, but - "

"I understand," Conrad said. Part of him pointed out that now would be a good time to remember his original purpose in coming here, but part of him wanted to see what would happen, if anything would happen.

"So uh." Slivko licked his lips. "When you said you didn't feel like my mom - "

"I think I meant something like this," Conrad said, deciding to give in to temptation, just kiss Slivko and see what would happen. _Let's be fair, getting kissed by someone he barely knows isn't going to even break into the top ten of weird things that happened to him today._

"Huh," Slivko said, when Conrad broke contact to allow them both to breathe. By way of a reaction, it left something to be desired. _Such as clarity._ "All right. Cool." That did sound a bit more hopeful.

"Bed?" Conrad prompted, feeling this had gone far enough for now. Besides, they both needed sleep and Slivko definitely needed time to think, to make up his mind on how far to take this.

Slivko chuckled. "Moving fast, huh? But, hey, sure."

_I didn't mean -_ But if Slivko wanted to - and Conrad knew he had no objections himself. They might both be dead tomorrow, much as Conrad hoped to prevent that from happening.

"Are you sure?" he felt compelled to ask, even so. Having Slivko change his mind tomorrow would make Conrad's job a lot harder.

"Hey, man, I trust you, all right?" Slivko said. "Besides, you're kind of hot. I mean, for a British guy."

"Thanks." _For a British guy?_ Conrad decided to assume that was the exhaustion talking.

"You're welcome," Slivko said, kissing him again, a bit clumsy and a bit sloppy but with enough enthusiasm to make up for it, as well as remove any lingering doubt in Conrad's mind about how good an idea this was. "Told you, didn't I? I trust you. Totally."

_And I will do what I can to justify that trust and get us all off of this island alive,_ Conrad promised himself, torn between wanting to keep kissing Slivko and wanting to relocate the two of them to somewhere a bit more comfortable, where they stood a fair chance of getting a couple of hours of sleep, at least.

_I guess it can wait. And this place right here isn't so bad._

Of course, then one of them stumbled over the wrench, and they ended up on the floor, Slivko on top, and Conrad decided that yup, spending the night right here would suit them just fine.


End file.
